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Flags for the European Union members stand during a ceremony to lay a cornerstone for the new European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.Hannelore Foerster | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLONDON — European stocks were in positive territory at the start of a busy week for Europe’s central banks.The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.8% shortly after 12:00 p.m. in London (7:00 a.m. ET), with most sectors and major bourses in the green.It’s a busy week for investors in Europe with the European Central Bank’s final policy meeting of the year on Thursday, when the bank is expected to keep…

Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s president, arrives for a hearing at the Constitutional Court of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTo justify a case for martial law, former President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to provoke neighboring North Korea into taking military action, South Korean prosecutors alleged Monday, according to domestic media. Speaking to reporters, special counsel Cho Eun-suk said that Yoon and his military commanders tried to lure North Korea into mounting an armed aggression against the South, but this failed as Pyongyang did not resort to military force. Cho and…

China’s first flight of the Jiutian drone carrier signals a shift toward massed, long-range swarm warfare that could expose Taiwan, US warships and vulnerable Pacific airbases to saturation attacks built on sheer numbers rather than stealth. The test, conducted this month in Shaanxi Province, marked a significant step in China’s push toward airborne swarm warfare and long-range unmanned surveillance, according to multiple media reports. The aircraft, first unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow in November 2024, is designed to act as an airborne mothership capable of launching more than 100 smaller drones or loitering munitions during a single mission. With a…

SYDNEY (AP) — A father and son are suspected by officials to have killed 15 people on a popular Australian beach, shocking a country where gun violence is rare. The government on Monday, a day after the shootings, proposed tougher new gun laws amid criticism that officials didn’t take seriously enough a string of antisemitic attacks.Here’s a look at what to know from the attack at Bondi Beach: The suspects attacked a Jewish beachside gatheringLittle is known about the suspects in the attack on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach, but there was widespread shock when officials said that the two men…

PRAGUE (AP) — A new Czech coalition government led by populist billionaire Andrej Babiš took office on Monday with an agenda to steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and reject some key European Union policies.President Petr Pavel swore in the Cabinet at the Prague Castle, ending a pro-Western coalition under former Prime Minister Petr Fiala that made the country a staunch supporter of Ukraine and a haven for hundreds of thousands Ukrainian refugees.Babiš, previously prime minister in two governments from 2017-2021, and his ANO, or YES, movement, won big in the country’s October election and agreed to form a…

LONDON (AP) — The new head of the MI6 spy agency is set to warn on Monday of how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s determination to export chaos around the world is rewriting the rules of conflict and creating new security challenges.Blaise Metreweli will use her first public speech as chief of the United Kingdom’s foreign intelligence service to say that Britain faces increasingly unpredictable and interconnected threats, with emphasis on “aggressive, expansionist” Russia.“The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in the Russian approach to international engagement, and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin…

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol plotted for over a year to impose martial law to eliminate his political rivals and monopolize power, investigators concluded Monday. Yoon’s martial law decree in December 2024 lasted only several hours and resulted in his rapid downfall.Independent counsel Cho Eun-suk, who announced the six-month probe’s result, also accused the former president and his military allies of ordering operations against North Korea, in a deliberate bid to stoke tensions and justify his plans to declare martial law. Despite the lack of a serious response from North Korea, Cho…

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities on Monday launched the final nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign of the year, aiming to protect 45 million children after more than two dozen cases of the potentially paralyzing disease were reported, officials said.According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where polio has not been eradicated.Pakistan has reported 30 polio cases since January, down from 74 during the same period last year, according to a statement from the government-run Polio Eradication Initiative. The campaign is the country’s fifth national vaccination drive this year. Pakistan regularly conducts such campaigns…

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media baron Jimmy Lai on Monday was found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign countries by a Hong Kong court.The 78-year-old was charged under Hong Kong’s controversial national security law, enacted by Beijing in 2020 after pro-democracy protests swept the region in 2019. The court said Lai was guilty of a “conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.” It also said that Lai and his tabloid Apple Daily, requested a foreign country or entity outside of China “to impose sanctions or blockade, or engage in…

19 November 2025, China, Shanghai: Boats sail past downtown Shanghai on the Huangpu River. The tallest building on the skyline is the Shanghai Tower (rear). Bernd von Jutrczenka | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesChina’s economic slowdown deepened in November with consumption, investment and industrial output growth falling short of expectations, as authorities sought to curb supply while struggling to revive demand and arrest the property sector decline. Retail sales rose 1.3% last month from a year earlier, sharply missing Reuters’ median forecast for a 2.8% growth, and slowing from 2.9% rise in the prior month. Industrial production climbed 4.8% in…